The present invention relates to a golf ball excellent in flight performance.
For improvement of conventional solid golf balls in striking feel and controllability (ability to stop soon on the green), attempts have been made to optimize the physical properties (such as hardness) of their core and cover so that they exhibit their best performance with a relatively high rate of spin (or when they are hit by a driver such that they receive a back spin of about 3000 rpm).
However, it has recently been known that a golf ball achieves a long flying distance when it is hit with a low spin and a high launch angle. Therefore, nowadays, hitting with a backspin as low as 2000 rpm is not rare owing to the recent development of balls and clubs (particularly drivers for a long shot).
Under such low-spin conditions, the hit ball has a low coefficient of drag, which contributes to flying distance. However, with a low spin, a golf ball with conventional dimples decreases in lift after it has reached the maximum height of the trajectory and begun to decrease in velocity. The decreased lift causes the golf ball to drop rapidly, thereby decreasing its flying distance.